


Don't Coddle Me (Too Much)

by Larry_Klaine_Stylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Platonic Kissing, Platonic OT5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-08 08:03:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/759020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson/pseuds/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Harry breaks both his legs playing football, the boys all band together to take care of him. However, Harry's mostly just annoyed and really doesn't like being coddled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Coddle Me (Too Much)

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a prompt fill on Tumblr.

Harry was actually the biggest klutz the world had ever known, he was sure of it.

One minute he was playing football with the boys, and the next he was waking up in a hospital bed with a cast on each leg, the lads surrounding him and looking down at him worriedly. He wasn't sure what had happened. He must have passed out from the pain of it all. But who in the hell broke both of their legs playing football anyway? Maybe a sprained ankle or a busted knee cap, but completely breaking both legs? He honestly didn't know how he did it.

If he was a superhero he'd probably be called Super Klutz, and no one would ever call him for help because he'd end up falling out of the sky flat on his face and getting crushed like a pancake.

Basically, Harry was an idiot.

The boys had stayed there with him until the doctors gave him the OK to leave, and then they'd helped him into the stupid wheelchair that he'd be stuck in until the casts came off and wheeled him out to Louis' car. Liam grabbed him by his underarms and hauled him out of the wheelchair and into the car, although he insisted he could do it himself. He had enough upper body strength, he was sure of it.

They'd driven him back to his house and helped him inside, insisting that all five of them were going to stay with him until he was better.

They'd been there for an hour and they were already getting a little overwhelming, constantly asking if he was feeling okay or if he needed anything, and honestly, he just wanted to be left alone. He hated being coddled and that was all the other lads seemed to be able to do at this point.

"Honestly, guys, I'm fine." Harry insisted, after Louis asked him for the third time in an hour if he wanted some tea. "You can all just go home, really."

"What happens when you need some food then?" Liam asked. "Or when you need to go for a wee?"

Harry groaned, slamming his head back against the arm of the couch they'd laid him down on. He hadn't even thought of that. Someone was going to have to help him every time he needed to take a piss. He couldn't exactly walk to the toilet or stand properly on his own.

"That's it, then." Niall said. "We're staying." He walked over to the couch and plopped himself down on it, right by Harry's feet, jostling his legs.

Harry took in a sharp intake of breath, the movement of the couch sparking up a bit of pain in his injured limbs.

"Shit, sorry." Niall said, patting Harry on the arm lightly.

"Let's not sit on the couch, eh, Niall." Zayn suggested, coming over and grabbing Niall by the arm.

Niall yanked his arm from Zayn's grasp, reaching down and grabbing Harry's face with both his hands, placing a very wet kiss to his lips with a loud 'smack!'.

Harry wiped the spittle from his lips with the back of his hand, "Thanks for that, Niall." He said dryly.

"Just tryin' ta cheer you up, mate." Niall shrugged, sitting on Zayn's lap in a chair, although there was a perfectly good empty chair a few feet over.

Zayn let out a small 'oof', shoving at Niall's back, but the Irish lad was having none of it, wiggling his bum comically until Zayn gave up, wrapping his arms around Niall's waist and squeezing him tighter than was necessary, and Harry was pretty sure he was actually trying to kill him.

"You're sure you don't want some tea, Harry?" Louis asked from where he was bustling about in the kitchen.

"Positive, Lou. Can you and Liam just come sit down? You're giving me anxiety."

"Fine." Louis huffed, shuffling into Harry's living room and sitting down in the only empty chair that was left.

Liam plopped down on the ground in front of Louis' chair, resting his back against Louis' calves.

Harry just sort of sat there, staring at this friends, and thinking how lucky he was to have them, but how annoyed he really was in this moment. He was glad to have his mates when he wanted them, but right now he needed them, and he hated needing anyone. He was especially going to hate when he needed to go for a piss.

He decided then that he wasn't going to drink anything, no matter how long these stupid casts were going to be on, because the less time he spent needing to have a wee the better.

"Shall we watch a film then, lads?" Louis asked, clapping his hands together.

Everyone mumbled their assent, and Louis stood up from the chair, which Liam promptly lifted himself into.

Louis looked over at Liam, tutting at him for a moment before opening Harry's entertainment center to go through his DVD's, "What are we going to watch then?"

"Green Lantern!" Zayn hollered quickly.

Everyone groaned. That movie wasn't even that good.

"Harry doesn't have that, Zayn." Louis told him.

"What about Iron Man?" Liam suggested. "Or Toy Story?"

"Finding Nemo!" Niall piped up.

"We all know I want Grease." Louis said, brushing his fringe out of his eyes as he turned to look at Harry. "Harry's the one who can't move. Let's let him pick."

Harry thought for a moment. He wanted something long so they could all just shut up for a bit and watch the film and stop worrying about him.

"Titanic." He said, with a little affirmative nod of his head.

Everyone groaned in annoyance, but Louis pulled the DVD out and popped it into the player all the same.

The title screen popped up, and Louis clicked play, crawling back over to the chair he'd been sitting in and placing himself in Liam's lap. Harry felt a bit left out, the other four cuddling while he was alone, splayed out across the entire couch.

He turned his attention to the telly, watching as the little video camera explored the ship at the bottom of the ocean. He always forgot about the beginning of the film, and he knew it was important to set up the whole story, but it kind of bored him. Couldn't they just move on to Jack and Rose?

He hated the fact that films like this were considered a feminine thing, because he absolutely adored them. Any romance film was something that Harry enjoyed, and the other lads all teased him for it. He'd try to argue and say that Disney wasn't much better, but they all insisted that you were never too old for Disney, and Harry agreed.

He just didn't understand the problem with liking romance films, though. Especially Titanic. It was a classic, and the acting was fantastic. Not to mention you got to see Kate Winslet's boobs. Like, seriously. Kate Winslet's boobs. This was definitely not a film that was just for girls. Kate's boobs could obviously be appreciated by girls as well, but Harry was pretty sure the makers of the film weren't thinking, "Hm, I bet some crying girls would like to see some nice boobs right about now."

And yeah, maybe Harry cried every time he watched this film, and maybe that wasn't very masculine in the socially accepted sort of way, but he liked to think that letting your true emotions out was really damn masculine, because most guys held that stuff back for fear of looking like a pussy, and Harry wasn't afraid to show that he had an emotional side.

As the film went on, all of the lads were crying. As the musicians played and the old couple held hands, that was when Niall, the last to start crying, finally lost it. Liam was holding Louis around the waist with his head tucked into his neck, and Zayn was half hiding his face behind Niall's shoulder, obviously trying to hide the fact that he was crying. And Harry was still just sitting alone on his couch, watching his best mates cuddle up together while he hugged a pillow, crying on his own.

When the film finally ended and Harry's eyes were puffy with tears, Louis got up out of Liam's lap and turned the lights on, the sun having gone down in the middle of the film, and everyone turned to look at Harry, whose eyes were blinking furiously against the lights, the tears still pooling there making it quite difficult to see.

"Aw, lads, look at Harry." Louis said.

"Don't act like you weren't crying, too, you twat." Harry said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, but your whole shirt is soaked." Louis smirked, and he was right, Harry's shirt was rather wet with tears.

"Your eyes are bright red, mate." Zayn pointed out.

"Alright, I get it. I was crying. Only heartless people could watch that without crying." He reasoned. "Plus you lot got to cuddle with each other and I was sat here all alone."

"Aw, did little Harry want a cuddle?" Niall asked, sounding a bit condescending, but mostly serious.

"I did, in fact." Harry huffed.

The other four boys rushed to Harry's side then, wrapping him up in their arms.

"Let me kiss the tears away." Zayn said, sounding overly dramatic.

He kissed Harry's left cheek before sticking his tongue out and licking up all the tears from Harry's face.

"Zayn, you wanker, get off." Harry hollered, pushing him away.

"That was rude, Zayney." Louis said.

He then leaned down, properly kissing the tears from Harry's right cheek before brushing them away with his thumb. Harry sighed a bit, hating to admit that he was happy being coddled like this at the moment, and leaning his cheek into Louis' touch.

"Sorry to say this, lads, but I've got to take a piss."

They all turned, looking at each other, and then Liam said, "Alright, I'll go."

Liam scooped Harry up from the couch, helping him along to the bathroom. There was no use sticking him in the wheelchair to go a few feet, and so he just sort of half-lifted half-dragged him all the way there.

"I'm, um." Harry said. "I'm just gonna sit, Li. You can just, like...Wait out there until I'm done?"

"You sure?" Liam asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Liam left the room, shutting the door behind him, and Harry managed to pull his own sweatpants off. He then put his hands on the toilet lid to brace himself, trying to slowly lower himself down on to the toilet. His hands slipped and he fell sideways, landing on the cold tile floor with a small 'thud'.

"Fuck!"

"Are you okay, Haz?" Liam called.

"Do not open that door!" Harry yelled, hearing the doorknob begin to turn. "I'm fine. Just...Give me a second."

He managed to get himself up off the floor and on to the toilet, quickly doing what he needed to do and then pulling his sweatpants back up and calling for Liam to come back in.

"I need help with washing my hands." He muttered, frustrated. "Can you just....Hold me up at the sink?"

Liam nodded, walking over to Harry and picking him up from where he was sitting on the edge of the toilet seat. He held him up by the sink, and Harry washed his hands quickly, and then Liam brought him back out, setting him down on the couch. He gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead, brushing his curls out of his eyes, and Harry sort of wanted to hug him and punch him all at the same time.

"I'm making dinner." Liam announced. "What food have you got lying around, Harry?"

Harry shrugged, "Dunno. The edible kind?"

Liam waved a hand at him, going into the kitchen and beginning to dig around in the cupboard.

Zayn sat on the arm of the couch, looking down at Harry, "How you feeling, mate?"

"Fine." Harry said, choosing not to use the first few words that came to his mind; Annoyed, agitated, idiotic, grumpy, a little cold, and useless.

"Don't sound fine." Louis said, sitting down on the floor right by Harry's head.

"I think you need more cuddles, Haz." Niall said, lifting Harry's head up so he could sit down, and then setting Harry's head in his lap, playing with his curls.

Harry sighed softly, allowing Niall to play with his hair, because secretly that was one of his favorite things, having his hair played with. And Niall seemed to like doing it, so why stop him? It was comforting.

They stayed like that for a while, and then Zayn made his way to the floor, where he laid down, his head on Louis' thigh and his hands resting on his own stomach. He closed his eyes, and Harry was pretty sure he was actually asleep.

Louis leaned his head back, resting it against Niall's knees, his hair slightly brushing against Harry's cheek, and Harry smiled a little, because they were kind of just like a long chain of people. All they needed was Liam resting some part of his body on part of Zayn's and they'd just be a big chain of best friends sitting there together.

And Harry wasn't quite as annoyed anymore, even if he did hate being taken care of, because at least the people taking care of him were his best friends. And yeah, Harry had had a lot of 'best friends' in his life, but never any he was quite as close to as Liam, Zayn, Louis and Niall. Back in school he never would have sat with his head in his friend's lap, or allowed one of his best mates to kiss him as if it were nothing. But it wasn't weird with these guys. It was just them.

Liam finished cooking dinner, and they all ate and watched the telly, and Harry's head was still resting in Niall's lap, and Harry didn't even mind so much when Niall dropped a noodle on his face, because Louis licked the sauce off and they were all laughing.

And he'd probably be grumpy about it all again tomorrow, because who knew how long he was going to be stuck not able to do anything for himself, but for now he was happy.

And as the night drew to a close, they all banded together, picking Harry up and carrying him up the stairs to his bedroom, where they helped tuck him into bed, each giving him a light peck on the forehead or the lips, and smiling down at him, and he felt a bit like a child with an over abundance of parents, but for right now, that was okay.

They all set up blankets and splayed out on his floor, curled up in various piles of humans, all cuddled together, and Harry didn't even feel lonely in his bed, because they were all surrounding him, and even if they did get a little overbearing, he knew they'd always be there to protect him, and that was a nice feeling.

"'Night, lads." He muttered, turning his face into his pillow a bit.

"Night, Haz." The other four chorused.

Harry fell asleep with a smile on his face, rather certain he had found the four best friends he could ever hope for.


End file.
